There’s truth to President Trump’s claim that there was wiretapping inside his midtown skyscraper during the Obama administration, only Trump wasn’t the target.
This report counters the allegation levelled against the previous administration by current President of the United States, Donald Trump.
Trump had earlier this month ignited a firestorm of controversy with a series of tweet that claimed the then-President Barack Obama “had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower” shortly before last year’s election.
The FBI listened in on phone conversations and monitored text messages between 2011 and 2013 while probing a gambling and money laundering ring tied to the Russian mob that operated out of a 63rd-floor pad in Trump Tower, ABC News reported on Tuesday.
The $5 million condo, unit 63A, is located just three floors below the president’s lavish, triplex penthouse.
“Everything was moving in and out of there,” said ex-FBI official Rich Frankel, who’s now an ABC consultant.
The ring was headed by the apartment’s then-owner, Vadim Trincher, whose son, Illya, ran a related was financed by art dealer Helly Nahmad.
Nahmad who’d bought up all the apartments on Trump Tower’s 51st floor was sentenced to a year and day in prison after copping a plea to gambling charges for his role in the scheme, which catered to high-rollers and A-list celebs including movie star Leonardo DiCaprio and then-Yankee Alex Rodriguez.
According to court records, the feds tapped Vadim Trincher’s cellphone for around four months, and caught him “communicating directly” with Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, a reputed Russian mobster who’s charged with fixing figure skating at the 2002 Olympics.
The suit — which sought more than $6 million over damage to custom wall panels, “very valuable furniture” and an “extremely rare silk rug” — was settled for an undisclosed amount less than a week later, court records show.